No. 25-ranked Lady Buffs open key homestand

West Texas A&M guard Megan Gamble changes direction before making a pass against Midwestern State last Saturday at the D.L. Ligon Coliseum in Wichita Falls. The No. 25-ranked Lady Buffs host Texas A&M-Kingsville at 5:30 p.m. today at the First United Bank Center (Lauren Roberts / For the Amarillo Globe-News)

The West Texas A&M Lady Buffs are returning to Canyon for possibly the last time this season for a pair of key Lone Star Conference home games.

The No. 25-ranked Lady Buffs open the homestand with Texas A&M-Kingsville at 5:30 p.m. today, followed by senior day against Angelo State at 2 p.m. Saturday.

WT, which is 20-4 overall and 12-4 in the LSC, will have their work cut out for them in the final three weeks of the regular season if they want to play another game in the First United Bank Center in March.

The Lady Buffs came in at No. 3 in Wednesday’s initial NCAA Division II South Central Regional Rankings. Lubbock Christian is the top-seed in the South Central Region. The Lady Chaps, the 2016 NCAA Division II national champions, are 22-1 overall and 11-0 in the Heartland Conference.

LSC-leading Angelo State (18-4, 13-3) is the No. 2-seed and Colorado State-Pueblo is No. 4. The other LSC representative is Tarleton State (17-8, 11-6), which currently holds the final spot in the region at No. 8.

“In the regional rankings, one of the things they look at is your final 10 games,” said WT coach Kristen Mattio, whose team is currently riding a five-game win streak. “We still have the conference tournament coming up after our regular season. So we have a lot of basketball left in front of us. We want to play as consistent as we can and take care of business.”

Mattio’s team has been as consistent as it gets of late. WT handled Texas Woman’s, Cameron and Midwestern State with convincing road wins over the past week.

During that stretch, the Lady Buffs showed why their one of the top shooting teams in the nation. In those three wins, WT shot a combined 79-of-152 (51.9 percent) from the field.

“Our team is playing is playing with a lot of confidence right now,” said Mattio, whose WT team ranks second nationally in shooting at 48.9 percent. “Each player is playing to their strength. We need balance and depth to continue to be a factor. Deleyah (Harris) had a big weekend, Tiana (Parker) is playing well. Madison Parker is always great for us and CeCe Wooten is doing what we need her to. Megan (Gamble) had eight assists against Midwestern. She’s getting us high percentage shots.”

WT dismantled TAMK in the first meeting on Jan. 13 in Kingsville, 79-40.

Mattio expects a much tougher challenge this time around.

It may not show it in the standings, but TAMK (6-18, 3-13) has improved. In the Javelinas last three losses to quality opponents in Cameron, Tarleton State and Texas A&M-Commerce, TAMK has been in every ball game, falling by a combined eight points.

“Kingsville is playing good basketball,” Mattio said. “They have players that are scoring the ball well. Their field goal percentage is up as a team. We’ll have our hands full. We may have got them the first time, but this second time the game is tied. We have to be ready.”

Lady Buff stuff: Sophomore guard Lexy Hightower is coming into her own, making a serious case for LSC Player of the Year. Hightower, an Amarillo High product, earned her second LSC Offensive Player of the Week nod by scoring 18 against Cameron. Hightower topped that effort with a career-high 27 against MSU. In the 78-67 win, Hightower was 9-of-16 from the floor and 5-of-8 from downtown.

Hightower is third in the LSC in scoring at 15.0 points per game and first in the league in 3-point percentage, shooting 47.3 (130-of-275) from beyond the arc.